Elderly couple in Southern California loses savings to FBI scam artist

An elderly couple from Southern California is facing the possibility of losing their home, which they have lived in for over 37 years. This comes after their life savings were stolen in a sophisticated FBI imposter scam.

Peter and Diane Hata remember the day they first received a call from the scammers in February 2025. The call came in with a number that appeared to be from the U.S. Postal Service. Peter said, “It was unusual, so I decided to answer it.”

The couple did not realize at the time that this call would lead to a costly and painful ordeal. Peter, a retired minister, and Diane, a retired teacher, were initially taken in by the convincing nature of the scammers.

“I understand now it’s called ‘Caller ID Spoofing,’ where they make the phone call appear to be coming from a legitimate source when it’s really not,” Peter explained.

The scammers posed as FBI agents and presented fake charging documents, claiming that a New York bank manager had stolen their identities and created fake bank cards in their names. They told the couple they were suspects in the manager’s crime ring.

As the “investigation” continued, the couple was warned that they could face jail time if they broke confidentiality and told anyone about the case.

“These actors were extremely slick, extremely convincing,” Peter said. “In the first video call, he was wearing an FBI jacket with an FBI badge in what looked like an FBI detention room.”

“They were very convincing,” Diane agreed.

The scammer eventually told the couple that they could clear their names if they digitized their money, allowing the FBI to trace the funds’ origins and clear their records. Worried about possible jail time, the couple complied and withdrew all their retirement savings and took out loans before converting it all into cryptocurrency and turning nearly $850,000 over to the scammers, whom they believed were federal agents.

After not hearing from the callers for months afterward, their suspicions grew. They eventually contacted the FBI office in New York and were told that the “agents” they spoke with did not exist.

With the majority of their life savings now gone, the elderly couple said they are struggling to recover and may now lose the home they’ve been living in for over three decades.

In a GoFundMe page to help the couple, the organizer said that bankruptcy attorneys told the couple that, due to the equity in their home, they would not qualify for bankruptcy.

“Ironically, it’s their very equity as homeowners that threatens them with having to sell their Covina home of 37 years in order to get out from under the crushing loan interest, which they are struggling to pay for monthly,” the organizer wrote.

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As friends and family work to help support the couple the best they can, Peter and Diane said they are trying to stay positive and hopeful.

“Hopefully, we’ll come out of this stronger and certainly more grateful because of this devastating scam,” Peter said.

A GoFundMe page to help the couple keep their home and recover from their losses can be found here.

More information from the FBI on how to protect yourself from phishing or spoofing scams can be found here.